Salon Design

Show Your Clients You Care With Homemade Holiday Gifts

Looking for a way to thank your loyal clients this holiday season? Why not give them something personal and homemade? We put together a group of simple projects that will show your customers just how much you care without breaking the bank or your skill level. Follow them exactly or add some custom changes to really make them your own.

Five nail techs gave us step-by-step instructions for holiday gifts they’ve made for clients in the past. Each tech has created a personal and thoughtful way of thanking her loyal customers. As a bonus, find one tutorial from the editors at NAILS!

Regardless of your skill level, time limit, and budget, there are options that will work for you. So try your hand at these gifts and show your customers a little extra love these holidays.

You will need: Six business cards Ribbon Cuticle oil or other small gift bottle

Step 1: Fold the cards into pieces suitable for assembling into a cube by taking two cards and placing them across each other, with the inside faces together. Try to make the 90-degree angle between them as accurate as possible, because each card serves as a guide for the folds in the other.

Step 2: Fold the ends of the bottom card up over the top card. Make the folds nice and crisp; the crisper the fold, the snugger the final cube will be.

Step 3: Flip the pair over so the bottom folded card becomes the top card.

Step 4: Fold the other card’s ends up.

Step 5: Pull the two cards apart: you’ve made two cube pieces. If you’ve made the folds tight, the pieces will be more “closed up” than shown here; that’s good.

Step 6: Repeat steps 1 through 5 two more times. Now you have six cube pieces. You are ready to begin assembly.

Step 7-10: Assembling the pieces

Now that you have six cube pieces, you can assemble them into a cube. This requires a little bit of dexterity, but is not as hard as it might seem. At each step, make sure that the new card you’re adding to the cube is hugging the existing cards with its folded tabs. At the last step, you would place your gift item inside the cube — I put a small bottle of cuticle oil to remind my client of after-service care tips. In order to close off the cube, you will need to carefully pry open the remaining tabs to get the last card in properly (under the other cards’ tabs, but with its tabs over its neighbors). Then tie a really cute ribbon around the box into a bow.

Step 3: Measure out your chosen fragrance according to the package instructions or essential oil and set aside.

Step 4: Heat the wax in a heatproof jug and saucepan of boiling water or a double-boiler at a low temperature and remove from heat once the wax is melted. Once cooled a little, add the fragrance and stir to combine.